People keep raining on Putin’s parade.
His biker buddy Aleksandr Zaldostanov, known as Surgeon, had been trumpeting a ride to be made by a bunch of bikers from the Night Wolves motorcycle club from Moscow through Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and on to Berlin to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the victory over fascism at Karlshorst, where the 9 May 1945 second Nazi surrender was signed. Today it was announced that the German government was revoking some Schengen visas issued to participants, and the Polish Foreign Ministry also issued a statement saying the group was not going to be allowed into Poland (while noting that other Russian commemoration groups were going to be allowed).
Polish MFA announcement of Night Wolves trip not being allowed
This is fitting, since this is not a normal biker group. Putin belongs to it (even though in PR shots he rides, of all things given his anti-Americanism, a Harley Davidson Lehman Trike–apparently the world’s top dictator cannot balance on two wheels), and it is heavily made up of former KGB, FSB, and GRU Spetsnaz personnel. It was involved in the takeover of Crimea and has openly participated in fighting in Donbas, Ukraine. Zaldostanov is nothing more than a crude thug ultra-nationalist (well, a neo-Nazi for all practical purposes).
The only drawback is that there were lots of groups, mainly in Poland, who were ready to confront them, which could have been mildly entertaining. We also will not be able to watch them shamelessly parade through Berlin to the Karlshorst museum (though they might feel at home, since up until 1994 just adjacent to the museum was the installation of a KGB Border Guards brigade).
So now Zaldostanov and his Chekist biker friends will have to stay in Moscow for Putin’s parade on 9 May. Nothing like a celebration of victory over fascism done by–fascists. Maybe they can keep some of the only high-level attendees company in the reviewing stands–basically the rogues’ gallery.
Zaldostanov and Putin
